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By Mike Hodgkinson October 12, 2003 Original Story Filmmakers who need to destroy an airplane or have their characters luxuriate in one can choose from a wealth of independent aviation equipment suppliers. It may have been the world’s most outrageous private jet. The windows were gold-plated, the carpets lush and the furniture draped with seminaked women. The crowning design flourish: a functional miniature railroad that connected each cabin. Never before had locomotion, aviation, money, sex and puerile fantasy formed so outlandish a union. San Fernando-based Air Hollywood had rented the plane to the Coen brothers for a scene in their new comedy “Intolerable Cruelty.” There’s just one caveat: The plane never left the ground. Air Hollywood supplies aviation-themed sets to the […]

By Jeremy Kay September 17, 2003 Original Story Cinecitta Studios in Rome and Los Angeles-based aviation standing sets and prop rental company Air Hollywood have teamed up to create what they claim is Europe’s largest aviation-themed facility. Proposed sets that will result from the partnership and serve expected market needs include an airport terminal concourse, state-of-the-art airplane mock-ups and a business jet. The move complements Cinecitta’s expanding range of permanent sets that includes Ancient Rome, New York streets, a Tuscan village and a submarine. For Air Hollywood the deal enables it to expand its interest in film production, having already served the shoots of Kill Bill, Intolerable Cruelty and Daredevil through its four California sound stages. “This is a very […]

By Carl DiOrio September 4, 2003 Original Story HOLLYWOOD — Facilities and props company Air Hollywood has acquired rival Airline Film and Television Promotions for a seven-figure sum. Air Hollywood will consolidate assets of both companies to become “the largest provider of airport and airline sets and aviation-themed props,” officials said. The transaction was brokered by Coldwell Banker of Beverly Hills and AFTP prexy Alf Jacobsen. MGM’s Snoop Dogg laffer “Soul Plane” is currently filming at Air Hollywood in San Fernando. With the AFTP acquisition, Air Hollywood boasts four soundstages with a total 60,000 square feet. Some rare stock and archive film footage was also acquired in the transaction. “The stock film library is an unmined treasure,” Air Hollywood founder […]

By Air Hollywood July 25, 2003 LOS ANGELES, CA – Air Hollywood, a San Fernando based aviation-themed production services firm, has acquired the assets of chief rival, Airline Film and Television Promotions (AFTP) which had been in business for over thirty years. Although AFTP is located just a stone’s throw away, the strategic acquisition allows Air Hollywood to consolidate itself and become the premier provider of aviation-specific film production services. The deal was viewed as an opportunity to acquire the sole competitor assets available in Los Angeles as well as expand its product offering to create new revenue streams. “This is a niche market and still being created by those who are proactive and willing to make strategic acquisitions when […]

December 2003 Cinecitta Studios in Rome, Italy, and Air Hollywood in Los Angeles are partnering to become Europe’s largest aviation-themed facility. Air Hollywood is the well-known provider of aviation standing sets and prop rentals to the motion-picture industry. Cinecitta, in its effort to attract more national and international productions to its historic studio site in Rome, is investing in a series of permanents sets such as Ancient Rome, New York streets, Dutch village, Tuscan village, submarine, and others, including aviation-themed sets. The new Aviation sets will include: airport terminal concourse (including check-in, security, customs), state-of-the-art airplane mock-ups (wide-body 777/747, narrow-body 727/737/DC-9), and executive business jet (glass cockpit and analog cockpit). Services to be provided will include prop rentals, set design, […]

By Air Hollywood April 11, 2003 LOS ANGELES – MGM will use Air Hollywood’s aviation-themed studio for its production of ‘Soul Plane,’ the urban comedy headlined by rappers Snoop Dogg and Method Man. An estimated 90% of the film will take place aboard Air Hollywood’s airplane mock-ups and airport standing sets. The company’s ability to attract “Soul Plane” marks a significant boost in Air Hollywood’s brand recognition among the major Hollywood studios. “This is a major account because so much of the filming will be taking place on our lot. MGM’s decision to use Air Hollywood terminals, wide-body airplane mock-up and associated props underscores the authenticity of our assets as a destination of choice for aviation-related productions,” said Captan, President […]

By Gemma Cacho April 10, 2003 Did you know the City of San Fernando has its own airport which has served such famous celebrities as Catherine Zeta-Jones, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Ben Affleck, and Vin Diesel just to name a few. This business, which has been operating for a little over a year, has served as the premier filming set for airplane and airport related scenes but is actually not a functioning airport. The Air Hollywood filming sets were the conception of Talaat Captan, a film producer who has produced 12 films, including the film Ground Control. “I wanted to make a movie about airplanes in an airport and I had such a hard time trying to film at an […]

December 2002 Talaat Captan is hardly a household name but he is making his way through the Hollywood scene. At one time he wanted to be a flight attendant. He still fondly remembers his interview for the position of “steward” with Pan American World Airways in New York in the seventies. He still vividly remembers the exhilaration of the moment when he was invited in the training class in Miami, FL. He also remembers clearly the disappointment when he was told that his starting salary would $11,000/year – hardly enough for a young flamboyant man to live on. He politely declined and in due course made his small fortune as a Hollywood film producer. But he never lost his weakness […]

By Air Hollywood June 17, 2002 LOS ANGELES, CA – Amid fears of flying and security concerns at airports worldwide, filmmakers choose Air Hollywood to reach their destinations. What began sluggishly as the world’s largest dedicated aviation-themed studio, has suddenly emerged as the talk of the town as Hollywood productions flock to the airline that hails itself ‘the safest in the world.’ “I would be lying if business was not below expectations but since the tragic events of September 11th, there has been a dramatic increase in production shoots at our studio. Billings have peaked at $10,000 a day and estimated profits are expected to reach half a million dollars for the first year,“ said Talaat Captan, President of Air […]

By Laurie Pike June 1, 2002 Original Story Imagine a different sort of L.A. Let’s say the weather wasn’t perfect. Pretend the light wasn’t all that magical. Picture a town without a film industry paving an infrastructure of unparalleled shooting accessibility. L.A. would still be a photographer’s paradise for its jaw-dropping variety of exotic locations in close proximity to each other. We’re not talking the obvious sunset beaches of Herb Ritts’s Armani campaigns and the desolate freeways of Alexei Hay’s Gucci ads. We’re talking Star Trek-like moonscapes, Italianate mansions and snowcapped mountains all within a few hours from each other. It goes without saying that you can find Western ranches, modernist houses and palm trees galore out here. But who […]